Brotherly Love
by irishchic799
Summary: When Sarah shows up at Tim's door in the middle of the night, Tim, once again, comes to Sarah's rescue. Don't read if you haven't watched S4EP08 "Twisted Sister"
1. Chapter 1

Special Agent Timothy McGee was exhausted. Their last case began fifty-nine hours ago and they haven't had a break since. A Navy admiral's grandson, whom the Admiral and his wife had custody of, had been kidnapped from the local park where he was playing with his friends. NCIS was called in at request of the Admiral and it was fortunate because when the kidnapper called for a ransom, it was in the form of classified naval information rather than money. They were able to rescue the child when they made the ransom drop but unfortunately the kidnapper escaped with the flash drive containing fake information. It took them thirty-seven hours to find the kidnapper and arrest him by tracing the fake intel he was given.

The elevator dinged (he was much too tired to climb three flights of stairs) and McGee exited the lift. He turned towards his apartment, eager to flop into bed and not get up until dinner time when he saw something in front of his door. Because of his lack of sleep, it took his brain a moment to realize that the something in from of his door was a person with their knees pulled to their chest and their head down. It took him another moment to realize that that person was his sister.

The young NCIS agent was now very worried. The last time Sarah had shown up at his door in the middle of the night, she had been drugged and the prime suspect in the murder of a Marine. He dreaded what brought her here this time.

"Sarah!" Tim called quietly as he walked quickly towards his door.

She lifted her head from its resting place on her bent knees. It was dark in the hallway but there was enough illumination for Tim to see the tell-tale glint of tears on her cheeks that meant she had been crying.

"Can I stay with you tonight, Tim?" Sarah McGee asked her brother in a weak and tearful voice.

Tim ignored the question, although not intentionally. His mind was moving at a million miles a second, trying to come up with possible scenarios that could end up with a crying Sarah at his door at two a.m. None of them were good.

"What happened? Why are you crying?" he asked urgently, once he managed to get his mouth to work again.

"Please, Timmy?" Sarah all but whimpered.

The use of his childhood nickname along with the tearfulness he heard in his baby sister's voice was enough to snap him out of his inner ramblings. He slid the key into his lock and pushed open the door, thinking back to the last time he'd heard Sarah had come to him with that voice.

_Dad was home from assignment again and he and Mom were fighting. Like always. It seemed like that was all they did when he came home. Tim wished that Dad didn't have to come home._

_The front door slammed and a car engine cranked, signaling the end of that night's fight. There was a moment of silence before he heard his bedroom door creak open and a shaft of light fell across his bed. Tim snapped his eyes closed, hoping that his mother wouldn't come in if she thought he was asleep. _

"_Timmy?" the high pitched whisper of a four year old came. "Timmy, are you awake?"_

"_Go back to sleep, Sarah," the twelve year old whispered back to his sister._

"_Can we stay here tonight, Timmy?" Sarah asked, more than a hint of tears in her usually happy, childlike voice. "Hoppy's scared of the yelling."_

_The preteen rolled his eyes at his baby sister's mention of her stuffed frog. For the past year or so, whenever "Hoppy" had a problem, Sarah came to him, asking him to fix it._

"_They quit yelling, Hoppy," Tim said, playing into Sarah's…whatever it was._

"_Hoppy says that he's still scared and only Timmy make the scary go 'way," the four year old whimpered slightly._

_The elder McGee child sighed. He didn't really want to let his sister sleep with him. She always moved around and more than once, he'd woken up with bruises on his shins from where her small heels had made their mark._

_He was all set to say no when her little mouth opened to say one more thing:_

"_Please, Timmy?"_

Tim's trip down memory lane ended when he pushed the door closed behind him with a click. His hand automatically went to the light switch and the room was instantly bathed in the slightly yellow glow or artificial light. With the light on, he could see a splotch on the back of Sarah's denim skirt.

"You've got a stain on you skirt, Sarah," Tim informed his sister.

It took his sleep deprived brain a few seconds to process that the stain was red. Blood red.

"Sarah," he said shakily, suddenly unable to speak normally as his mouth went dry and his stomach dropped out, "why is there blood on your skirt?"

Terror filled her eyes and she opened and closed her mouth several times as she tried to come up with an explanation.

"It's, um, it's my period," she finally came up with.

"No, it isn't," Tim called her out gently. "You had it last week."

Sarah's fear was momentarily replaced by a mixture of confusion and creeped-outedness. She couldn't help but ask, "Wha- why- how the heck do you know when I have my period?"

"When I was over at your apartment last weekend, there was Midol on the counter and you took some right before the second movie started," Tim said, blushing slightly, although his embarrassment was greatly dwarfed by his growing fear and anxiety.

"That's kind of creepy, Tim," the younger sister told her older brother with a half-hearted sniffle, "but I guess that's what happens when your brother is an investigator."

"I guess."

There was what seemed like an endless silence between brother and sister, punctuated only by Jethro's snores. After what seemed like an eternity, Tim looked right into Sarah's eyes and asked a question he had prayed never to have to ask of his baby sister.

"Were you raped, Sarah?"

Tim saw a mask of defiance come over Sarah's face for a split second as if she was preparing to deny her brother's assumption before the mask crumpled into pain and despair.

One stride was all it took for the tall NCIS agent to reach his younger sister. He wrapped his long arms around her, one hand smoothing her long, dark hair while the other squeezed her to him as if he was afraid she would disappear at any moment.

It took only seconds for Sarah McGee to begin sobbing into her brother's shirt. She clung to him for all her worth, taking comfort from his strong, solid presence.

They stood in the middle of the kitchen for a very long time. Tim could feel the tears soaking through his shirt and the tremors that wracked his sister's smaller frame. In his mind, he knew that there was probably nothing he could say to his sister to comfort her right now but he couldn't try. He alternated between making a low "Shh"ing noise and telling her that he loved her and that he wasn't going anywhere.

When Sarah's tears slowed almost to a stop, she pulled away and wiped her face on the sleeve of her jacket.

"We need to go to the hospital," Tim said after about a minute of awkward silence. "They'll, um, they'll need to collect evidence for the police."

Sarah nodded mutely.

"Just let me go grab you something to change into for when we come home," he said softly. "They'll need your clothes to check for hairs and, uh, DNA samples to figure out who did this."

"I know who did it," whispered the violated young woman. "I was on a date with him. I know his name and his phone number. They can have the clothes though; I'm never going to wear them again."

White hot anger burst up from the pit of his stomach. He desperately wanted to find this…this piece of vermin and make him suffer for what he did to Sarah, his sometimes sweet and often spunky little sister, but he knew that now was not the time for vengeance. Maybe, as a professional courtesy, he could get the Metro Police to give him some alone time with whoever hurt Sarah when they caught him.

"I'll be right back," he assured her before heading to his bedroom.

"Change your shirt," she called softly after him. "I got make-up all over that one."

Tim looked down and only then noticed the smears of blue, black, and tan from her eye liner, mascara, and foundation. He quickly changed from his work clothes that he'd been wearing for the past day and a half into an NCIS sweatshirt, a pair of jeans, and tennis shoes.

Once he was changed, he began rooting around, trying to find something for his sister to wear. None of his pants would fit her petite frame so it was lucky when he found a pair of flannel pajama pants that Sarah had left at his apartment the last time she had spent the night. The only option for a shirt was one of his, so another sweatshirt came out of his closet although this one advertised MIT on the front. It would be too big and the sleeves too long but there wasn't much choice so it would have to do.

"Ok, Sarah," Tim said softly as he left the bedroom, "I've got some stuff for you to wear. Let's go."

Sarah silently nodded and moved to follow her brother out of the small apartment and towards the elevator. The door shut with a snap and the siblings made their way down the hallway. The elevator quickly came and they stepped into the small, depressing space.

As Tim pressed the button for the first floor and the doors began to slide shut, Sarah whispered, with tears gathering in her eyes, "I wish I didn't have to do this."

His own eyes began filling with hot, anguished tears as Tim wrapped an arm around her shoulders. He pressed a kiss to her dark brown hair before whispering back, "I wish that, too."


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: ****To the reviewer alix33, I think I may have misread your review. It was kind of hard to tell what you meant in your response. If that Crap! Was meant in a "Holy Crap, that's terrible that that happened to Sarah" then I am sorry for the message I sent you. Given that meaning behind your review, my message was rude. If you meant Crap! In a "Those paragraphs were crappy writing" way then I don't think that my message was all that rude and I would appreciate it if you didn't give me anymore nasty reviews. ~irishchic799**

~~~~~NCIS~~~~~

The short ride to the hospital was silent. Tim gripped the steering wheel tightly enough that his knuckles turned white. Sarah sat staring out the window, watching the suburban streets pass by.

The parking lot at emergency room was fairly empty. So the NCIS agent easily found a spot to park his Porsche. Once the car was in its spot, the two McGee siblings exited the sports car and slowly walked towards the automatic doors.

"Why don't you wait here while I go talk to the nurse," the elder of the two suggested quietly to his younger sister. She simply nodded and went to a seat in the corner, away from the few other patients (mostly drunk and/or high homeless people) that were also in the waiting area.

"Excuse me," Tim said to get the triage nurse's attention. When she looked up from the computer she was clacking away on, he continued, lowering his voice for privacy's sake, "My sister needs a rape kit done and I was hoping that, maybe, there was somewhere private that we can wait for the doctor."

"Of course," the young nurse replied, paling slightly when she heard what the man's sister had recently experienced. "If you can just wait a minute, I'll find you a room and get a doctor to come as quickly as they can."

Tim nodded his thanks and went back to Sarah. He sat beside her and covered her smaller hand with his larger one where it rested on the shared armrest.

True to her word, the triage nurse returned quickly and gestured for the brother and sister to follow her. The two McGees did. One of the drunks yelled something about cutting in line. Sarah stiffened but her brother's arm made its way around her shoulders and the continued to follow the nurse.

She led the pair to the private room. She instructed Sarah that she would need to change into the gown set out for her on the gurney and that the doctor should be in momentarily.

"Let me know when I can come back in," Tim told his little sister before stepping outside so that Sarah could change.

A few minutes passed before Sarah reopened the door to the exam room and allowed her brother back in. They sat in silence, Sarah on the gurney and Tim in an uncomfortable chair, while they waited for the doctor to come. Ten minutes passed before the doctor arrived and Tim had to leave once again so Sarah could be given a sexual assault exam.

The exam, Sarah felt, was very similar to the reason for it. Of course, it was a doctor and a nurse trying to help her, not someone intent on hurting her and they were collecting evidence rather than creating it but that didn't change the fact that she felt so exposed and violated. She wanted nothing more than for this to be over. Each photo taken of a bruise or swab taken for fluids felt like a punch to the stomach.

Sarah closed her eyes tight and didn't reopen them until a very kind older black nurse said, "It's over, honey."

"Can you get my brother?" she asked, sounding, the nurse thought, much younger than the 22 years she had lived.

"Of course," the woman agreed in a soft voice. She went out the door but instead of Tim coming in, the nurse returned.

"Your brother said that he would come back in in a couple of minutes so that you can change into these," she informed the girl on the gurney.

"Thank you," Sarah replied in a near whisper as she accepted the sweatshirt and flannel pajama pants.

"Don't you worry about it, sugar," the kind nurse told her patient as she patted the young girl's shoulder on her way out of the room.

Sarah quickly changed into her borrowed clothes. A few moments later, there was a light knock on the door that Sara recognized as her brother's. She called for him to come in and he did.

"I got you a Dr. Pepper," Tim said quietly, a bit of his poorly concealed sadness seeping through in his voice. "I figured you would be thirsty."

"Thanks," she answered. "I am."

As Sarah twisted the cap off the bottle until there was the tell-tale crack of the seal breaking and took a drink, the elder McGee spoke up again.

"Sarah," he said seriously, "there are two police detectives outside. They need to take your statement and make a report. Can they come in?"

The younger McGee child was silent, an unreadable look on her face. When Sarah didn't speak for several minutes and her eyes began to grow shiny, Tim spoke again.

"You don't have to make a report, you know," he told her quietly, "but I know that lots of women who don't report their rape end up regretting it."

"I want to report it," Sarah was adamant. "I'm not going to let him get away with wha-what he did to me. It's just-" Sarah stopped abruptly, taking a deep breath as if she was going to continue. When she didn't, Tim decided to do a little digging.

"What is it?" he asked, trying to get to the root of the problem so that he could do his best to help his little sister.

"I don't want to tell some random police officers everything that he did to me," the 22 year old answered.

Tim was at a loss for what to say. He seasoned law enforcement officer but he still had no idea what he could do or say to help her. Or was there?

"I could get it transferred to NCIS," he offered. "Technically, you are still a Navy dependent because of Dad. NCIS handles cases where the victim is a Navy dependent. I could get my team to handle it."

"Thanks, Tim, but I think that would be worse," Sarah admitted. "They'll see all those pictures that doctor took and I don't really want your friends to see that much of me and to think of that any time they see me."

Tim could understand that.

"You can let the detectives in," Sarah sighed. "I just want to get this over with."

Tim complied with his sister's instructions. The NCIS agent stuck his head out the door and a second later pulled it back in, holding the door open for the two detectives.

Both detectives were men. One was older, looking to be around fifty-five or sixty while the other seemed to be a few years older than Tim. Sarah wished that they had sent a woman.

"You'll stay with me," Sarah inquired softly, "right, Tim?"

"Of course, Sarah," he promised, walking over to the bed Sarah occupied to sit with her sister so he could sit next to her and offer whatever support he could.

"Hi, Sarah," the older detective said, "I'm Detective Markham and this is my partner, Detective O'Reilly. We're here to take statements from you and your brother so we can make a report and catch the man who hurt you."

"Ok," Sarah said quietly, looking down at her hands as she spoke.

"Alright, Sarah," Detective O'Reilly began, pressing the record button on the tape recorded he was holding. "Can you tell us what happened to you?"

The dark haired head nodded. It took the soon to be college graduate a moment but she began to share her scary, painful story.

"There's this used book store that I like to go to sometimes, Once Upon a Time. There aren't usually too many people so a lot of times I go there to study or write. A week and a half ago, I was writing a term paper when this guy came over to where I was sitting and started talking to me about one of the books I was using for my paper."

The young victim paused. She took a slow, deep breath and reached for the bottle of Dr. Pepper. After taking a drink of the caffeinated beverage, she took another deep breath and continued.

"We talked for almost an hour," Sarah informed the detectives and her brother. "He was and he was…well, he seemed nice, so when he asked me out, I said yes. I had my term paper to finish that weekend and my last few classes he next week, so I told him we couldn't go out until tonight, well, I guess last night."

Sarah paused again. Telling the police detectives about what had happened to her was hard. Telling her brother was harder.

"Do you need a break, Sarah?" Detective Markham inquired gently.

"No," she insisted, even as her eyes began to tear up once more at the thought of what happened to her.

Tim reached one of his arms around Sarah's shoulders and squeezed her into his side, hoping that, in some way, he was comforting his little sister.

"He to me to Meiweh Restaurant on New Hampshire," she continued. "Then we went down M Street a few blocks to the West End Cinema. We saw Iron Man 2." Another deep breath and a squeeze from her brother were what Sarah needed in order to keep going.

"After the movie," she sniffed as more tears filled her eyes. "We went back to my apartment. I have a studio in a building owned by my school, Waverly University.

"He walked me to my door. When we- when we reached it, he kissed me goodnight."

Sarah felt her brother tense and take in a sharp breath of air. Tim was trying to keep himself together, Sarah knew. Her big brother had always been a sensitive soul; she'd known that for as long as she could remember. It had bothered their father that Tim was so sensitive but it was one of the things Sarah secretly liked most about him. That part of Tim's personality was what made him such a good big brother. It made him loving and kind and protective and someone she would always be able to look up to.

"After he…kissed me, I got out my keys and opened my door. I heard footsteps and I thought he was leaving but then he-"

Sarah broke off yet again. Her throat closed up and her dark brown eyes began to fill with unshed tears.

"It's ok, Sarah," Tim whispered in her ear as he hugged her.

"Take your time," Detective O'Reilly to the young victim.

"He grabbed me from behind and cover my mouth with his hand," Sarah told the three law enforcement officers. The tears that had been collecting in her eyes began to fall as the story reached its apex.

It made Tim's heart hurt to hear his baby sister tell the terrible tale of what had happened to her only hours ago.

"He shoved me in the apartment and closed the door," Sarah divulged through her tear clogged throat. "I tried and tried to get him to let go of me. I scratched and I did every…" She choked up again, letting the feelings of guilt and shame at not being able to defend herself against the attack overwhelm her momentarily. "I did everything I could but he still wouldn't let me go."

Tim felt more tears well up and break the surface tension that help them within the confine of his eyes. The salty droplets made their way down his pale cheeks and fell into his lap. Swiftly, Tim wiped the tears away and refocused his attention on his sister heart wrenching story.

"He told me if I screamed he would kill me and pulled out a knife to prove it. The he let go of my mouth and started pulling off my clothes." Those words were followed immediately by a sob and the sob led to yet another tight hug from Tim.

"He, um, pushed me down onto my bed and p-pulled down his pants and boxers. He put on a condom and then he, uh…" Sarah trailed off, unable to go on.

"I'm sorry, Sarah," Detective Markham said morosely, "but I need you to say exactly what happened. We need to do everything carefully and by the book so that there's no chance of this case not following through."

The 22 year old nodded. She took a deep breath and, shakily, she continued.

"He…raped me and when he was done, he left my apartment," Sarah uttered, her pain palpable. "I waited for a while to make sure he was gone and then I got a cab and went to my brother's. We talked for a little it and then we came here."

"Ok, Sarah," the older detective said. "Now, I know that that was very hard but I need to know his name. Can you tell me that?"

"Dylan Mitchell," Sarah spat angrily. Tim was glad to see that his little sister still had her fiery temper. He'd been praying that despite this horrible ordeal that Sarah would still be herself eventually. That angry lilt in her voice was a sign that, even though Sarah had just endured a painful and terrifying assault, it had not crushed or broken her. What made Sarah, Sarah was still there underneath all pain and fear and shame she was feeling.

"I have his phone number, too," she told the detectives. The young woman grabbed her cell phone and, after pressing a few buttons, held it out to them. "Here."

While Detective O'Reilly copied down the number, Detective Markham spoke up.

"Thank you for telling us what you did, Sarah," he said. "Do you think you're up for doing a sketch of him? We can wait if you need to but the sooner it's done, the better so that the defense doesn't try to call your sketch into question."

"I can do it now," the tenacious brunette said, wiping the last remnants of tears from her eyes. "I just want to get this over with."

"Well, I'll stay in here with you and make the sketch," Detective O'Reilly said, "while your brother goes with Detective Markham to make his statement."

Both McGees agreed and went their separate ways. Sarah was able to give a good description of her rapist and Tim gave his statement with much better detail than the average witness due to his law enforcement experience.

Once the police had finished and said they would be in contact the moment anything happened with the case, Sarah and Tim left the hospital. The brother and sister than prepared to start the rest of the worst night either of them could ever imagine.


End file.
